Local Stories (8)

The 50th State Judo Association is proud to announce applications are now being accepted for the 2013 Scholarhip and Competition awards programs. Up to 14 individuals will be receive up to $500. Applications must be postmarked by March 31. Winners will be announced by April 30. For more information, click on the links below.

Kekua Marumoto is usually a competitive guy, but at Sunday's Sunao Migita Memorial Tournament he wasn't as concerned about wins and losses. That's because the 14-year-old brown belt from Kapolei Family Judo Club has a bigger goal in mind: Win nationals.

Marumoto, who competed in the male juvenile-B, under 132-pound division Sunday, is one of two from his club that will make the trek to Toledo, Ohio next month for the United States Judo Association/United States Judo Federation joint Junior Nationals.

"I'm shooting for gold, but any medal would be nice," Marumoto said, who began judo at the age of seven. "I've been to nationals every single year since I began and I've never placed in one yet; I was close last year."

At his first nationals -- held here in Honolulu -- Marumoto was taken aback by the magnitude of the event.

"I remember that I didn't really want to do it at first, but it was at (Neal) Blaisdell (Arena)," Marumoto said. "I thought it was going to be another tournament, but when I got there it was way harder and there were a lot more people. It was very eye-opening for me."

Marumoto, who placed first at Sunday's tournament, said he dealt with his share of losing before experiencing success.

"When I was 10 or 11, I used to get bust up and never used to win," Marumoto said. "It wasn't until last year that I finally began to understand the techniques and movement. Now when I watch myself on video, it's very different."

As the victories began adding up, Marumoto's outlook on the sport changed.

"I didn't used to like judo before, because I would just get bust up (at the tournaments) and go home, but it's really fun for me now," he said.

Kapolei head instructor Randall Platt feels that Marumoto is coming into his own.

"He's been in judo for a while, but I know he's in a few other sports, so he's coming back around and putting more effort into practice," said Platt, who noted Kekua's older brother, Kainoa, as a probable influence. "Kekua was working out with the (Kapolei) High School team last year, which was good. I think it got him to commit himself more. He's definitely more serious about judo than before."

Marumoto just completed the eighth grade at Kapolei Middle and will most likely join Kainoa at Kapolei High next year. He said he is on the waiting list for Kamehameha-Kapalama.

As part of his training for nationals, Marumoto said he has been lifting weights five days a week for the past three months in addition to judo practices Mondays through Thursdays.

Marumoto was pleased, but not satisfied with his performance Sunday.

"It was good because there were three other guys in my bracket," said Marumoto, who departs for Ohio via Los Angeles Wednesday. "I always come to this tournament before nationals so I know what will work for me and what won't. Overall I think I did well, stayed calm, but probably could have worked on some techniques and had a little better timing."

One would be hard pressed to notice, but Angelica Barroga was one happy judoka Sunday. The eight-year old captured first place in one of the largest divisions of the day — girls bantam 2, under-51 pounds — at the Kapolei Family Judo Club Tournament at Salt Lake District Gym.

Barroga, a third grader at Salt Lake Elementary, bested seven other competitors, despite having not entered a 50th State Judo Association tournament "in a couple of months." She won all three of her matches Sunday by ippon.

"I'm very happy," said a stoic Barroga, who has been attended Salt Lake Judo Club for the past two years. "I had a lot of fun."

Barroga held off Makiki Seidokan's Madison Kogachi in her first match, before beating Jessica Dixon, of Hawaii Tenri, in the semifinal round.

She pressed Dixon, who finished second in the division, by kesa-gatame for ippon to advance to the championship.

In the final for first place, Barroga faced off against Hawaii Tenri's Brie Bella. Baroga, who also competes in swimming, pulled through and won by kesa-gatame press. Bella finished in third place.

The 13-year old Terao, a brown belt from Liliha's Shobukan Judo Club, went 3-0 to capture the boys' juvenile A, under 117-pound division at Sunday's Sam Fujiyama Memorial Tournament. The tournament was hosted by Makiki Seidokan and held at Salt Lake District Park.

But, it was hardly anything new for Terao, who said he has not lost a match in Hawaii since December of 2008.

"I think about it sometimes," said Terao, an eighth-grader at Lutheran School. "Losing is bad — I've experienced losing and losing hurts. I like winning basically and you have to train hard (to win)."

Terao said the loss over two years ago forced him to get serious about his training.

"It was a change in mentality," he said. "That was before my Japan tournament, so I had to get serious about judo and I trained everyday for almost two hours."

Terao spent a week in Japan in November of last year, which was sponsored by the 50th State.

"I was invited to train up there and I got to play in one of their tournament," said Terao, who began judo at five.

At Sunday's tournament, Terao won his first match before it began. He advanced to the second round after his opponent was given a hansokumake (disqualification) because of a non-regulation gi.

"It's kind of a disappointment when someone gets hansokumake because of their gi," Terao said. "I just stayed focused and worried about the next match."

He bested Kapolei's Kekua Marumoto in the second round after another hansokumake to move on to meet Hodokan's Troy Enoka in the final.

Terao picked up a yuko 35 seconds into his match with Marumoto on a left uchimata before forcing four stalling penalties to end the match with 24 seconds to play.

"I was trying to keep up the intensity and stop him from attacking by being offensive," said Terao, who weighed in at 108 pounds.

Terao scored on a right modified kouchi at the 2:03 mark to open the scoring against Enoka. The throw resulted in a waza-ari and Terao pressed Enoka with kameshiho-gatame soon after for his second waza-ari, which ended the match with 1:40 left.

"He was open so I faked the (seionage) forward and switched it back into kouchi," said Terao, who began practicing with the Pac-5 wrestling team last month. "My brother (David) is the team captain so I practice with them sometimes. Since I've been wrestling, it's easier for me to transition from standing to a pin."

Shobukan instructor Lance Iida said Terao was far from his best Sunday.

"To me, he's a little rusty because he's not in competition mode," Iida said. "His timing and his entries are not as clean, but he still can pull off wins because of his ability and experience."

The next tournament will be the Tsuruo Fukushima Memorial Tournament, hosted by Leeward Judo Club on Feb. 14.

Tyler Allen understands the importance of patience. The 11-year old judoka saved his best for last en route to a first-place finish at Sunday's 50th State Judo Association monthly tournament at Salt Lake District Park Gym.

Allen, a green belt at Shobukan Judo Club, went 3-0 to win the Intermediate 2, under 84-pound division, which contained six entrants.

"I'm glad that I won," said Allen, who weighed in at 81 pounds. "It was good to fight early."

Allen's division was among the first played Sunday and wrapped up by 10:30 a.m. He needed overtime to get past Pearl City Hongwanji's Micah Tateyama in his first-round match.

"I'd rather have a quick match and end it quick so that I don't use as much energy," Allen said. "But, I thought that because I was attacking a lot and that I would get the decision if it went to flags."

Allen nearly threw Tateyama with a leg pick about a minute into regulation, but neither judoka could muster any offense and they were forced to go into a golden-score, extra period. It wasn't until the clock showed 10 seconds remaining in overtime that Allen scored a yuko on a left leg pick to advance to the second round.

In his semifinal against Weston Kogachi, of Makiki Seidokan, Allen quickly got on the board with a left seio-nage for yuko 20 seconds in. He added another yuko on a left sore-tsurikomi goshi less than a minute later and just before time ran out, Allen added his third yuko on another sore.

"I practice my right side a lot at practice, but my opponents don't give me my right side (grip), so I have to play left," said Allen, who noted his favorite technique is a kouchi leg pick.

The final was between Allen and Kapolei's Cole Kido and also went to overtime. Neither judoka was able to score in regulation, but Allen scored a waza-ari off a left leg pick just 23 seconds into overtime to end it. Allen started the throw inbounds, but his momentum took him near the safety border, where he finished the throw.

"I was focused on my opponent and not on what the referee would say," Allen said. "I didn't hear matte, so I just kept going."

Allen, a sixth-grader at Mid-Pacific, began judo at age four — two months after his older brother, Trevor, took up the sport.

"I wanted to do what my brother was doing," said Allen, who also plays forward for the Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club.

Maybe that's why the seven-year old Ho was so quick to end his matches at the Aiea Hongwanji-hosted monthly tournament at Salt Lake District Park Sunday.

Ho, a second grader at Hongwanji Mission School and member of Salt Lake Judo Club, won by ippon in each of his three matches to win the bantam 2, under 51-pound division.

"I'm happy to win," said Ho, who added the first-place finish gives more reason to work harder at practice.

Ho's division was the largest of the day with eight competitors. A total of 160 judoka entered the tournament with 213 contested matches being held.

In his quarterfinal match, Ho pinned Cade Phillips with kesagatame about a minute in. He needed just three seconds in the semifinal round to dispatch Jordan Keliiaa with a left ouchi-gari for ippon and it was more of the same in the final. Ho used the same technique in a nine-second win over Brock Yashiro for first place.

"I wanted to circle around him and use my ouchi-gari," said Ho, who began judo at age three.

Salt Lake instructor Brandon Maki praised his judoka.

"He practices really hard and he's a real good-natured kid," said Maki, who added Ho's favorite throw is uchimata. "He uses the ouchi-gari well to set-up his uchimata, but the first throw was working today, so he stuck with it."

Ho, who has an older sister who also participates in judo, has not yet entered any national tournaments, but according to Maki, it is within his reach.

"He's definitely of that caliber," Maki said. "He's just a solid all-around player."

Pearl City Hongwanji’s Teshya Alo placed third at the USA Judo Senior NationalChampionships in Irving, Texas on April 22. Alo, a 13-year old who attends KamehamehaSchools, competed in the under-52 kilogram (114.6 pounds) division in the two-day tournament.

Also, Hodokan’s Darcy Kagawa and Nicholas Lum placed second in the All-Around Mixed Katadivision. The pair was second in the Nage No Kata, third in the Goshin Jutsu, second in theKatame No Kata and fourth in the Ju No Kata.

Within five years of taking up the sport of judo, Teshya and Teniya Alo have blossomed into two of the premiere practitioners in the state of Hawaii. This fall, even the best of Latin America proved to be no match for the sisters from Liliha.

The Alo's combined for six wins with no losses between them to claim a pair of gold medals at the Infantil Pan Am Championships, Oct. 3-4 in Panama City, Panama. Teshya captured the under-15, 44-kilogram in convincing fashion as did younger sister Teniya, who won the under-13, 31-kilogram division.